Database Users

[MOD] Speaker hole enlargement

Hey all, watching some flash videos today made me notice how poorly the N1 puts sound out the back speaker, even compared to my old G1. I remember back in my Blackberry days that people used to mod the backs to "let more sound get out", and so I started looking into this...
First off, the speaker is GINORMOUS in relation to the slit. If you look inside the back where the speaker is, you can see a little internal grille, and the small slit for sound to escape. There's also a TON more room where that grille isnt attached to the back (same shape as the slit, only about 5x the size) that could be milled out pretty easily, and still retain the "keep crap out of the back" feature of the grille.
So, this leaves me with a few questions:
Where can I get a replacement back, in case my mill catches a bit more than I anticipate?
Anyone else interested? I figure if I set up to do one, I might as well bang a few others out instead of setting up multiple times.
Once I get a second back, I will be going at this with pics and hopefully notable improvement in projecting sound into my hand, and back toward my face!
I might not be a software hacker, but when it comes to this sort of thing, I figure its the best way I can give back to the community!

Give HTC support a call and tell them your cover doesn't line up properly(I don't think any of them do) they'll send you out a replacement. If they don't they can sell you one for ten bucks I think.
Hope to hear good results from your mod, might do it myself.

I actually think the small slit does something to amplify the sound..
Take the back off, play music, put it on. Notice it gets louder when you place it back on..
I don't know though, but I'll be following this thread!

Wisefire said:
I actually think the small slit does something to amplify the sound..
Take the back off, play music, put it on. Notice it gets louder when you place it back on..
I don't know though, but I'll be following this thread!
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Yea, I think the OP should test and see if there's even a noticeable difference without the back cover. I would think not...

Try removing the cover, sounds WAY worse.

Yes, I completely realize the back sounds bad off, its acting as a resonator, or isolating front from back waves of the speaker, which causes phase cancellation. Thus why im not removing the cover, just making the one hole bigger. It SHOULD not lose the "low end" that it has with the back on (if you want to call it that.
Either way, Im hacking at least one up, Ill post results!

Do it. (poor phone!)

I would suggest to replace the speaker with a Desire one, some people who have both phones pretend it's way louder on Desire, and yes it's the same form factor and size so it should fit

It is quite a bit louder without the cover but sounds bad due to the lack of resonance.
Shouldnt be too bad with just an enlargement, make sure you put something to block out dust. Let us know how it goes.

I've found that attaching one of these to the back quite useful...

or try a vuvuzela

I think the engineer who designed that whole was well aware of resonance qualities. If you make that whole and turns out better, you should apply to HTC job hehe...

@Hummeroid
Good idea ...
What about drilling mini-holes arround the "slit" ?
Instead of making ONE BIG hole ...

Very Interesting mod idea...I think the small drilled holes would be an effective test.

Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.

I looking for the out come of this.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

mrbkkt1 said:
Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.
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hah, I've never seen anyone else do it, but I do this all the time if I'm showing people a video or am in a noisy setting (ie. party)

clickwir said:
hah, I've never seen anyone else do it, but I do this all the time if I'm showing people a video or am in a noisy setting (ie. party)
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Nah, everyone does it.. I mostly do it when I want to listen to something quiet, I can turn it down and redirect the sound towards me.

I actually have a really good pair of earphones. I prefer that the main speaker is in the back, instead of in the earpiece like some phones. Prevents earspeaker blowout and call quality is damn good with this phone so far.

mrbkkt1 said:
Or just cup your left hand around the back of the phone.
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Click to collapse
I try to put it up against a wall. Your hand can work to absorb sound waves, thus deadening sound and lowering overall quality; but drywall bounces the sound waves back nearly impeccably. Desks, etc, any hard surface should do the trick.

Evo Speaker Fails.

So I'm on my second Evo. The first one's speaker blew out within the first two weeks I had it, I went to Best Buy and they exchanged my black Evo for a white one, no questions asked. Now I have my white Evo, and guess what, the speaker blew out. It happens very incrementally. And what's worse is I switched from Best Buy's insurance to Sprints, and I've been told that Sprint won't replace your Evo if its speaker is blown out. Pretty lame.
So what gives? Why are these speakers going out so fast? I've seen a few reports of blown out speakers here. It's kinda' sad that such an awesome phone possesses such a bunk speaker. I'd rather have my old G1's speaker than this pathetic sack of cat ****. Lol
This is a sort of rant/question hybrid. Wasn't sure where to put it. Sorry.

neckface said:
So I'm on my second Evo. The first one's speaker blew out within the first two weeks I had it, I went to Best Buy and they exchanged my black Evo for a white one, no questions asked. Now I have my white Evo, and guess what, the speaker blew out. It happens very incrementally. And what's worse is I switched from Best Buy's insurance to Sprints, and I've been told that Sprint won't replace your Evo if its speaker is blown out. Pretty lame.
So what gives? Why are these speakers going out so fast? I've seen a few reports of blown out speakers here. It's kinda' sad that such an awesome phone possesses such bunk speaker. I'd rather have my old G1's speaker than this pathetic sack of cat ****. Lol
This is a sort of rant/question hybrid. Wasn't sure where to put it. Sorry.
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wtf are you playing on your evo for it to blow it, you sound like the guy that wanted to do that "Class Action Lawsuit" just because he couldnt uninstall Amazon mp3 off his Evo because its "Hardwired in his Phone"
rediculous!!!!!

which speaker?

rdzlyz said:
wtf are you playing on your evo for it to blow it, you sound like the guy that wanted to do that "Class Action Lawsuit" just because he couldnt uninstall Amazon mp3 off his Evo because its "Hardwired in his Phone"
rediculous!!!!!
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To answer your question, I'm playing YouTube videos/listening to music. On a side note, you sir, have issues. Lulz
strung said:
which speaker?
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That'd be the external speaker on the back of the phone.

I've been on YouTube many times, its the spot to be. My speakers are fine!!

I have to chalk this one up as user error to happen twice so fast..I use the back speaker a lot and the only time i have issues where i think its going to blow is while useing Fring.

Mine started sounding like crap and I was really disappointed. I took off the battery cover and found pocket lint on the speaker. badabing - fixed. That speaker is small, so if anything gets on it, it will be distorted.

BrianBaker said:
I have to chalk this one up as user error to happen twice so fast..I use the back speaker a lot and the only time i have issues where i think its going to blow is while useing Fring.
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I agree for the most part, unless it is just completely coincidental that you had to bad speakers in the first place.
The reason I say this is because if you did a pole on here, I would guess that at least 97 - 99% of people have not had issues with the speaker.
But, some people do have bad luck when it comes to electronics, so you may have just gotten 2 defective phones. You should be able to call HTC and get it exchanged as long as it isnt more than 30 days old (or something like that)

DaWhip said:
Mine started sounding like crap and I was really disappointed. I took off the battery cover and found pocket lint on the speaker. badabing - fixed. That speaker is small, so if anything gets on it, it will be distorted.
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Glad that worked for ya', sadly, it hasn't worked for me. That was the first thing I checked when it started happening. My speaker isn't slightly jacked, it sounds like a fly. Like if you try and strum a guitar that still has a pick wedged on the neck between the strings. It's -really- bad.
And as for chalking it up as a user error, you could in fact be right. As I listen to some very loud, very obnoxious music. Dead Moon, Crass, and Gray Matter seem to be what really take a toll on my speaker. If listening to loud music is a crime, I am most definitely guilty.

yah, you might be better off investing is some good headphones or a little speaker dock. I could see some Gray Matter at full blast taking a toll on the evo speaker quickly.

DaWhip said:
yah, you might be better off investing is some good headphones or a little speaker dock. I could see some Gray Matter at full blast taking a toll on the evo speaker quickly.
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Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to do that. I have those big dj type headphones and they're not very portable, which is why I don't use them often.

neckface said:
Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to do that. I have those big dj type headphones and they're not very portable, which is why I don't use them often.
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Nobody's going to hassle you if you're walking around with a set of Sennheiser HD800's.

SilverZero said:
Nobody's going to hassle you if you're walking around with a set of Sennheiser HD800's.
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No, not hassle. More like mug me for 'em.

Speaker 101 (all speakers)
Distortion blows speaker, not amplitude. The trouble with that is it is hard to tell recorded distortion from speaker distortion. Add to that, even recorded distortion can fairly easily overheat the coil, resulting in a crappy sounding speaker.
I'd try for another replacement, then use only headphones... good ones.
Sent from my Evo using XDA App

neckface said:
No, not hassle. More like mug me for 'em.
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True.
...

mrsato said:
Speaker 101 (all speakers)
Distortion blows speaker, not amplitude. The trouble with that is it is hard to tell recorded distortion from speaker distortion. Add to that, even recorded distortion can fairly easily overheat the coil, resulting in a crappy sounding speaker.
I'd try for another replacement, then use only headphones... good ones.
Sent from my Evo using XDA App
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O_O You learn something everyday.
Yeah, I've learned my lesson. I'm sticking to headphones from now on. Any suggestions?

Mrsato hit the nail on the head , if you hear distortion you should turn down to keep from hurting them.
Sent from my netarchy_toast, froyo beast of a machine evo!

DaWhip said:
yah, you might be better off investing is some good headphones or a little speaker dock. I could see some Gray Matter at full blast taking a toll on the evo speaker quickly.
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+1 to this. Speaker dock or some good wired headphones coupled with an E5 amplifier. You will never listen to the speaker on the back again.

I'm on my second speaker and it just started crackling again so back to get a 3rd one put in!

user error? Seriously, how would that even be possible. Speakers aren't supposed to blow themselves out on a PHONE.
My rear one went out after 2 weeks too. What was i doing? Nothing, i barely use my rear speaker at all.

Case to "fix" the low speaker volume issue

Everyone here is probably familiar with the DHD speaker volume issue.
The GSM Hero also suffers from a similar problem except that hardly anyone complains because the battery cover acts as a passive diaphragm which amplifies the audio from the tiny speaker. Removing the cover makes the Hero sound just like the DHD.
That got me thinking... a properly designed or modified case may be able to do the same for the DHD that the battery cover does for the Hero.
I'd be interested to hear feedback especially if someone has a DHD case that they think would make a good candidate. Mods might include patching the speaker hole and etching a speaker port.

if you have the design and wanted to make it happen. Why don't you try kickstarter? I am sure there are a lot of DHD owner will support you (if your case really works)

I've experimented with several materials but am unable to reproduce the effect seen on the HTC Hero. My best guess is that the Hero's plastic body transmits speaker vibrations efficiently to the large battery cover diaphragm whereas the DHD's solid unibody construction dampens vibrations needed to produce sound from a case.
Another solution may be to build a larger case with a thin film speaker via the headphone jack. A juice pack and kick stand might be cool too.

Has anyone noticed it is twice as loud when laid on its back on a hard surface, like a table? Probably the same idea of reflected sound that Bose engineers dine out on.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

It's made to be placed screen down when using the speaker, for music anyway.

I use Tasker to turn off the notification sounds at night when phone plugged in (so I can sleep).
I too have very low/bad speaker sound but noticed something weird yesterday and today, if I remove the power (therefore automatically reverting notification volume to 100%) BEFORE dismissing the alarm then the alarm temporarily got very much louder (for maybe a second).
This makes me think the issue is actually software/firmware, particularly as some people seem to think the speak volume is OK. I've tried turning off pocket mode etc, so far no good

Yes, I too observed the same. if i start any game, the initial sound for may be 2 secs is very louder and then fades away to usual self. It might be a firmware issue, but no one from HTC seems to be acknowledging this or trying to provide a fix.

This hasn't got anything to do with the 'make my phone louder when it's in my pocket ' setting has it? Perhaps it knows its on your desk so doesn't crank up the volume?
Just a thought ......
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I actually places the speaker on the table to bounce the volume up. It works somehow.

Just thought I'd add that I've been watching videos in bed lately. I prop it up by making a dip in the covers, which bounces the sound back. The sound, especially in dolby, goes from being awful to being really good. In fact I find it better than putting it on a hard surface...

MisterBuggie said:
Just thought I'd add that I've been watching videos in bed lately. I prop it up by making a dip in the covers, which bounces the sound back. The sound, especially in dolby, goes from being awful to being really good. In fact I find it better than putting it on a hard surface...
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Any picture?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

just use a custom rom they have increase the volume...
or wait for offical GB that will maybe increase too.
i think 1.84... has an boost?

LG G2 Audio Quality? Hi-Fi Sound?

Hey all, the audio quality from the speakers are supposed to be a selling point of the phone.. not many reviewers speak about it in the video review or even give an example of what it sounds like... so not intuitive and extra frustrating lol. Does anyone have it and can compare it to the HTC one boom sound quality or the Iphone 4s good speaker quality? Now that i have an HTC One, the only way i would go to the LG G2 is if the audio quality from the speakers hold up to the hype LG displayed at their event. replies are appreciated.

Im with you as no review has done anything with the sound. I will say in this phonearena review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVA7jg1KB-k&feature=youtube_gdata_player that he says although the G2 sounds great it doesnt have the depth the htc one has with its boom sound but that still leaves us in the dark.

INCREMENTAL said:
Im with you as no review has done anything with the sound. I will say in this phonearena review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVA7jg1KB-k&feature=youtube_gdata_player that he says although the G2 sounds great it doesnt have the depth the htc one has with its boom sound but that still leaves us in the dark.
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yeah i watched that yesterday... again left in the dark... i was hoping that it sounded close to the HTC One as it's the best audio i've heard on a phone next to the Iphone 4 and 4s. thanks for the reply!

Are you talking about audio from the external speaker, or audio out to headphones? If external speaker, I'm thinking you'd be disappointed vs. the HTC One, as the G2 only has a single mono speaker on the bottom right as you face the screen. The grill on the bottom left is the microphone.

INCREMENTAL said:
Im with you as no review has done anything with the sound. I will say in this phonearena review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVA7jg1KB-k&feature=youtube_gdata_player that he says although the G2 sounds great it doesnt have the depth the htc one has with its boom sound but that still leaves us in the dark.
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Dchibro said:
Are you talking about audio from the external speaker, or audio out to headphones? If external speaker, I'm thinking you'd be disappointed vs. the HTC One, as the G2 only has a single mono speaker on the bottom right as you face the screen. The grill on the bottom left is the microphone.
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yeah i was referring to the External speakers and thats a bummer.. i thought they were stereo speakers with two at the bottom... something like the apple has at the bottom of their iphone. I really like the phone from reviews and if the speakers are better than the Note 3 lets say or any other LG smart phone, i may be inclined to get it... seems like no phone is as good as the htc one just yet

stepinmyworld said:
yeah i was referring to the External speakers and thats a bummer.. i thought they were stereo speakers with two at the bottom... something like the apple has at the bottom of their iphone. I really like the phone from reviews and if the speakers are better than the Note 3 lets say or any other LG smart phone, i may be inclined to get it... seems like no phone is as good as the htc one just yet
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I don't know if i'd let the speakers bother you, much. Then again i can't tell you what and what not to do.
A phone will never have audiophile sound from speakers. Sure, we can justify it sounding good because of what it is. I've heard the iphone speakers and i've heard the htc speakers. Yes, for a phone they are great, but that's about it. With that being said, i'd never rock out with phone speakers. They help get the point across, but i'll be reaching for hi-end gear to make those beautiful music notes shine.

Darkestred said:
I don't know if i'd let the speakers bother you, much. Then again i can't tell you what and what not to do.
A phone will never have audiophile sound from speakers. Sure, we can justify it sounding good because of what it is. I've heard the iphone speakers and i've heard the htc speakers. Yes, for a phone they are great, but that's about it. With that being said, i'd never rock out with phone speakers. They help get the point across, but i'll be reaching for hi-end gear to make those beautiful music notes shine.
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right.. but the reason i'm intrigued is because they're supposed to be really good.. LG had a presentation on the speakers. The Htc one sounds very very good.. it could come out of the box louder but there's a way you can make them louder and still sound crisp. It's second to none i've tried so far. going to something lesser than hurts the mind and deprives the ears when you know there's a better option.

Darkestred said:
I don't know if i'd let the speakers bother you, much. Then again i can't tell you what and what not to do.
A phone will never have audiophile sound from speakers. Sure, we can justify it sounding good because of what it is. I've heard the iphone speakers and i've heard the htc speakers. Yes, for a phone they are great, but that's about it. With that being said, i'd never rock out with phone speakers. They help get the point across, but i'll be reaching for hi-end gear to make those beautiful music notes shine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dchibro said:
Are you talking about audio from the external speaker, or audio out to headphones? If external speaker, I'm thinking you'd be disappointed vs. the HTC One, as the G2 only has a single mono speaker on the bottom right as you face the screen. The grill on the bottom left is the microphone.
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and i was just looking at the phone and it does look like two speakers at the bottom left and right. are you sure?

The Hi-Fi sound is in regards to being able to play 24 bit/192kHz Hi-Fi playback. The only way to take advantage of this is having high enough quality media and using a nice set of headphones. The external speaker has nothing to do with this, and from what I've seen it's not all that great.

emplox said:
The Hi-Fi sound is in regards to being able to play 24 bit/192kHz Hi-Fi playback. The only way to take advantage of this is having high enough quality media and using a nice set of headphones. The external speaker has nothing to do with this, and from what I've seen it's not all that great.
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ooooooo i see what u mean now... that's why they have those different type of headphones that comes with the phone. well that sums it up.. probably answers the question of why no one is talking about the external speakers.. they're just regular lol

stepinmyworld said:
ooooooo i see what u mean now... that's why they have those different type of headphones that comes with the phone. well that sums it up.. probably answers the question of why no one is talking about the external speakers.. they're just regular lol
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hehe, yup. Definitely a cool feature if you like quality sounding music though.

stepinmyworld said:
and i was just looking at the phone and it does look like two speakers at the bottom left and right. are you sure?
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99.9% sure, based on a post I read from someone who already has the phone, as well as the phone's manual, which only draws a line to one grill with the "Speaker" label. No manual is perfect, but I'm fairly confident that a split line would have been drawn to each grill if it had stereo external speakers.

Right side is the only speaker. It sounds better than the GS4, but not as good as the HTC One.
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 4

Look at the Verizon version... It has speakers only on right side.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

No version has 2 speakers, the other grill is the mic.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

The speaker(s) on the lg g2 do sound better than the s3. Can't comment on the s4. The lg g2 is more warm sounding and higher pitched timbre's sound more realistic vs the s3. They are of equal sound volume, however.

It's about as loud as my n4 but actually has more bass, not saying its much, but its more than a n4 or gs3.

i hate the fact that there's a built in compressor/limiter on the speakers, and there's some kind of weird stereo thing going on where it might only be giving ONE channel, rather than both left/right out of the speaker.
i rememebr reading on the international version that there was EQ settings and whatnot somewhere...wonder if we can unlock them somehow? then maybe we can turn that stupid limiter off.

Hey guys...dont know whether this has been asked before but i really dont know if this g2 has 1 or 2 speakers. Cos the sound only comes out of the right speaker. But in the manual looks like it has 2 speakers...can someone help me here? Thanks
Sent from my LG-D802 using xda app-developers app

mab71 said:
Hey guys...dont know whether this has been asked before but i really dont know if this g2 has 1 or 2 speakers. Cos the sound only comes out of the right speaker. But in the manual looks like it has 2 speakers...can someone help me here? Thanks
Sent from my LG-D802 using xda app-developers app
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Right side is the ONLY speaker, though it 'looks like' 2 in the bottom.

Any way to increase output sound on ZE551KL? (ringtones, notifications, speakerphone)

I am using a ZE551KL while waiting on my ZE551ML to return from RMA. The ZE551KL is a decent phone but it does not measure up to the ZE551ML, but I am sticking with it while Asus takes their merry time on repairing my phone.
Anyway, has anyone had any success in increasing the volume levels of the back speaker? The loudness of the ringtones and notifications leaves much to be desired, at least for me. I have everything maxed and the Audio Wizard is on and set to Smart but I seldom catch my email notification and I carry my phone in my shirt's chest pocket. These are the same tones I used on my ZE551ML so they are recorded/saved loud enough.
Any help would be appreciated as I will passing this phone down to a family member once I get mine back from Asus... whatever year that occurs.

Yeah it's pretty pathetic. When i try to listen to a podcast out of the back speaker while I'm washing my face or doing other things where I can't have headphones in, I can't hear it over the sound of the water running.
I put it on "voice" and turn on "dialouge enhancement" and turn up all frequencies to the max and it makes it maybe a third louder, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. I guess you have to cut some corners with a 200 dollar phone. Skimping on the engineering and materials it would take to make an impressively loud compact speaker seems to be one of the places they tried to save money.

I wondered about buying an after market speaker replacement. And swapping it out.
Sent from my A1R using XDA-Developers mobile app

this is a software issue with the Asus stock ROM.
Flash the Cyanogenmod ROM, and the sound output from both the external speaker and the headphone port is way, WAY better.

nujaxx said:
I wondered about buying an after market speaker replacement. And swapping it out.
Sent from my A1R using XDA-Developers mobile app
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That might be possible, actually. I had to replace the screen on my ZE551KL and unlike the models with Intel hardware, the speaker unit seems to be connected by what looks like a miniature version of a 3.5 mm headphone plug. Seems like the vibration motor and speaker might be housed in the same rubber unit, though. I did a successful screen replacement, but I wasn't always certain exactly what I was looking at. :silly:
There's ZERO documentation or videos about the internals of the ZE551KL available online, but you can get a good luck at the audio plug leading into the speaker just by removing the 8 to 12 tiny screws that secure the backplate of the phone on. Keep in mind that will void your warranty though.

The speaker itself would be an easy switch. I've replaced some before and it was relatively easy. Can't see the Asus being different. It's nearly identical to the lgg3 in placement, interestingly enough.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00TD using XDA-Developers mobile app

argblah said:
Yeah it's pretty pathetic. When i try to listen to a podcast out of the back speaker while I'm washing my face or doing other things where I can't have headphones in, I can't hear it over the sound of the water running.
I put it on "voice" and turn on "dialouge enhancement" and turn up all frequencies to the max and it makes it maybe a third louder, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. I guess you have to cut some corners with a 200 dollar phone. Skimping on the engineering and materials it would take to make an impressively loud compact speaker seems to be one of the places they tried to save money.
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Seems to have made a big difference. Much appreciated, mate.

Install custom audio mods such as viper4android, dolby atmos, or biohazard sound mod